A lot of stuff has been happening. Let’s check it out:
Sex
- In the New York Times, Dan Savage talks about different forms of relationships in an interesting article about how non-monogamous relationships may not be so bad. Keep things honest! Re-draw boundaries on what one can do in the relationship, not have hard-line rules on monogamy. It’s because monogamy is actually harder than we think. Around page 4, there’s a critique suggesting that women may go along with it just to please their partners. This may lead to a more diverse society with various forms of relationships. We can’t have a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to romantic relationships.
- As a response, Stephanie Coontz-whom I adore, as you can see from this post–has sympathetically understood Savage’s point, but disagrees. She suggests that monogamy will still be the major institution of relationships and it’s not going away anytime soon. Any why not?
It’s because we’re not the kind of society that has lots of very close, tight-knit relationships with a sense of interdependence that exists across the life cycle. So, we put more of our commitment eggs in the basket of our significant other. As long as that occurs, allowing sexual dalliances, which sometimes become invested with big emotions, will threaten that one source of obligation and altruism. Because we put this emphasis on the dyadic bond, it is a fairly rare couple that can go into [an open marriage] absolutely confident that [these other relationships] will not turn into something more threatening and permanent.
In other words, the notion of equality in marriages has made monogamy stronger.
- Penis size has been linked by comparing the ratio of the index finger with the ring finger on the right hand. The lower the ratio, the longer the penis. How so? Prenatal hormones.
- A blog about using the tools of economics to investigate love and sexuality.
Ethics
- An interesting relationship between unethical behavior and wide faces in men. However, it’s not a huge majority, as the study says.
- Vance argues that organic food will just cycle toward conventional food because of business practices.
- For all you vegetarians out there, there’s a great site about finding veggie places in your area. It’ll be in the blogroll. (H/T to Steve Campbell)
Information
- Charts, Charts, and more Charts. An excellent site (which I’ll put on the blogroll) on charts on just about, well, anything from color coding to cars, to organized crime, to the bailouts.
- Need a good intro book on any topic? Click here. (Will also be on blogroll)
Media
- A huge smashup of Daft Punk songs.
- Anyone want to play Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” on the piano as a fugue? Or you can just listen to it:
Economics
- Samoans lose a day in order to gain an economic stronghold.
I’m glad the subjects in the penis study were anesthetized when they stretched their penises “as much as possible.” Jeez